Wine Label Art Contest

Two Academy Students Bottle Two of the Four $5,000 Grand Prizes in National Wine Label Art Contest.

Academy illustration majors Jordan Scott and Nina Pulumbo were each awarded one of the four $5,000 academic scholarship grand prizes in the 2013 Canvas Artist Series Competition. The Michael Mondavi family developed canvas Wines for the Hyatt Corporation, who sponsors the contest.

According to the contest rules, each of the entrants had to create an original “artistic representation of characteristics of one of the four Canvas Wines varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot or Pinot Grigio.” Three finalists and one grand prize winner were selected under each wine category.

Entrants also had to write and submit two, 100-word (maximum) essays – one a brief statement about themselves and why they want to be artists; and the other detailing the inspiration and story behind their submission.

In addition to receiving academic scholarships from Hyatt, the grand prize winners will have their artwork featured as the labels of a special bottling of Canvas Wines “Artist Series” (a total of 325,200 bottles) and on the Canvas Wines’ website. http://www.canvaswines.com/artistseries.

This is the second consecutive year Illustration Chair Rich Kryczka had his classes participate in the contest (which began in 2011). One of his students, Christian Gordon, won a grand prize last year.

Nina Palumbo

Canvas Wines/Jordan Scott.

With 84 entrants, nationwide, four grand-prize winner and 12 total finalists, it is impressive that six of the contest’s 12 finalists were Kryczka’s students. Besides Scott and Pulumbo, Academy illustration majors Kendall Sudduth, Jeff Sant, Samantha Holm and Marissa Tovar were the other Academy finalists.Kryczka had approximately 20 students from two of his classes enter the contest this year.

Scott and Pulumbo were both juniors at the Academy when they entered the contest last semester and are now seniors.

“I’m very proud of all of my students for participating, and especially happy about our securing six finalists and two grand prize slots,” explained Kryczka.

Jordan Scott

Students submitted their work by November 8, 2013. Finalists were selected by the contest sponsors and announced November 18. Public voting on the finalists closed December 15, and the winners were announced December 20.

The three finalists were selected under each of the four wine varieties based on the following*: